HostelBloggers

We’d heard horror stories of sweltering heat, dodgy taxis and corrupt police (as always, when travelers step off the beaten track) but we were keen to see Serbia (and the festival) for ourselves in all its glory.

Now in its 9th year, EXIT started life as a political protest against President Milosevic but it’s since become increasingly concentrated on the music and has now achieved something of a cult status, especially in the UK.

Which is hardly surprising, really, given its inimitable location and massive scale. Set within the Petrovaradin Fortress of Novi Sad (on the River Danube), EXIT boasts 25 stages and a schedule that runs for four whole nights.

What’s more, it’s as cheap as chips! Fly into Budapest and then travel to Novi Sad by train or bus, and the whole thing - including travel, food, the four day pass and as much food as you can shake a stick at - should cost about the same as a single ticket to Glastonbury.

To further scrimp on the budget, we’d decided to camp on the provided site - a bit of a mistake, as it turned out, given the all-consuming heat that greets Novi Sad come sunrise. 

EXIT is very much a nighttime event, you see, with music booming from 8pm to 8am. And since it’s very hard to sleep in a tent after about 9am given the sun, we didn’t end up with a lot of shut-eye during the week!

This is party land, however, and sleep wasn’t exactly on the agenda. The first night kicked off with fireworks and air displays, before N.E.R.D (who disappointed) and The Streets (who certainly didn’t) got the music under way.

With the next three night’s entertainment including such class acts as Booka Shade, Soulwax, The Gossip, Primal Scream and even The Sex Pistols, EXIT quickly became one big, happy mess.

 You basically party all night long to whatever strain of music takes your fancy, from the big international names that grace the main stages to quirky Serbian folk bands and experimental techno in the smaller corners of the fortress.

It was the unique Dance Area, though, that proved a great hit - where else in the world could you go raving in a moat with thousands of other people?!

After such brief spells of sleep each night (or rather morning), we found the best course of action was to simply cheer ourselves up the next day with a couple of beers at ludicrously low prices and a cooling swim in the slightly suspect waters of the Danube while (subtly, of course) eyeing up the Ana Ivanocic lookalikes that seemed to be constantly bounding around after volleyballs on the manmade beach.

Too much partying, heat, dust and a lack of proper food does take its toll (even on us hardy HostelBloggers lot) but otherwise the festival seemed to pass us by without incident. 

It was with regret that we packed up our things and headed out of the ‘Emergency Escape’ for the last time… (As ‘EXIT’ was plastered around so much the organizers seemed to think this was the only way to get party-weary Brits to leave without confusion.)

We did get a glimpse of the Serbian police force, though - and yes, they all had the huge stature and threatening glare that told you they were ex-military and could snap you between their fingers. Just as well we’re a pretty law abiding bunch!

Next year is EXIT’s 10th anniversary and we’re betting there’ll be even more festivalgoers heading out to this little known corner of Serbia come 2009. We might just see you there…